At risk of sounding overconfident, things have gone well for us at Cressey Performance since we opened our doors in 2007.  We've had double digit percentage growth in each of the past three years and the job seems to get more and more fun each and every day.  In the next two months, we'll expand into an additional 1,000 square-feet.  I talked a lot about how we've attacked things to get to where we are in a previous blog post, Three Years of Cressey Performance: The Right Reasons and the Right Way.

One thing I'm not sure I've highlighted in my writing enough, though, is how important the camaraderie we have among our clientele is.  "Creating camaraderie" was never a bulletpointed objective in our business plan, but in hindsight, it was the single-most important factor in our gym not only "making it," but thriving in an economy where loads of other gyms were closing their doors just about every day.

Each year, the Thanksgiving Day lift reminds me of that, as for me, Thanksgiving is all about family. In other words, if you're going to spend a few hours with people on Thanksgiving morning (and get up ultra-early to do so on the morning after what is arguably the biggest partying night of the year), then you better enjoy the company of those people and see them as part of your extended family.  We had high school athletes, college athletes, professional athletes, weekend warriors, Moms and Dads, and former interns in to get after it from 7:30AM to 9:30AM - and it really meant a lot to our staff.  Sure, a lot of them were probably just there to see (and feel...and be photographed with) my mustache, but you get the point.

How do you create camaraderie among your clients?

• You hire the right people, give them plenty of autonomy, and make sure their jobs are as fun and rewarding as possible so that they'll always be in the right mood to create and nurture friendships; there simply can't be bad days.  I heard from a commercial gym trainer the other day that his facility had 68% employee turnover the previous year; how do the members even know the staff - let alone become their friends - when they're gone within a month or two?
• You treat everyone as individuals, even if they're in a semi-private or bootcamp-style training set-up.  This means you individualize with your programming and find time to interact with everyone, monitor their progress, ask about their families, or just shoot the breeze about who the Red Sox should sign this off-season.
• You put results first and revenues second (some of the business coaches out there will hate me for this one).
• You introduce clients to other clients and help expand their social networks.
• You organize client events - whether it's a Thanksgiving morning lift, trip to a baseball playoff game or a boxing match, Halloween party, or a seminar for parents on how to keep young pitchers healthy.  And they don't even have to be huge gatherings; my family has had two of our pro baseball players with us at Thanksgiving each of the past two years, for instance.

The bride has hundreds of people involved in the process to keep her accountable.  Conversely, the upstart fitness consumer usually goes it alone.  I would be very curious to see what the success rate is of people who start exercising with a training partner - and I'll bet all my 2010 paychecks that it is markedly higher.

Coincidentally, I chatted on the phone on Friday with Tim Ferriss, the author of the wildly successful book, The 4-Hour Workweek.

Here is a guy who has published a #1 New York Times Bestseller as well as one of the most popular blogs on the internet.  Tim's also an entrepreneur with his hands in a lot of successful businesses, and he's learned multiple languages and taken on all sorts of physical endeavors - from martial arts to dancing.  And, most importantly, he's succeeded (thrived, actually) in all of them.  Moreover, he's mentored loads of people on how to do the same for themselves.  In short, he's an expert on getting stuff done.

So, when Tim decided that he was going to go for a 500-pound deadlift in 2010, what did he do?

Made his goals very public.  Anybody who reads his blog knows about them - and that's a lot of people.  It makes him accountable to not only himself, but all of them as well.  And, he's allied himself with resources - from training partners to meathead deadlifters across the country (yours truly) - to help him get to where he needs to be.  He is like a fired up bride who just wants to lift some heavy stuff.

And, what did I do to ensure that I'd have my new product ready in time?  I told you all that it'd be launching on September 21 - and it absolutely, positively will, even if I have to stay up every night until 3AM before that launch to finish it and all the tag-along materials. This is why my biggest recommendation to those starting a fitness program is to find a training partner and get into a solid training environment.  This isn't just for offering hand-offs and spots when you're benching, which, while nice, are the tip of the iceberg.  Rather, on those days when you're tempted to skip an exercise session, it'll make a big difference to know that there is someone waiting for you at the gym who will be disappointed if you don't show up.  They'll be there to push you when you need to be pushed, or to hold you back when you're being stupid and pushing too hard.  And, when you start to get soft and try to skip out on training, they'll be there to remind you of your goals - which you made very public.  You'll do the same for them, too. This is also one reason why I think you're seeing semi-private training and bootcamps absolutely boom in the fitness industry while one-on-one personal training dies a slow death.  In the former two options, you don't just get affordability; you also get increased camaraderie, accountability - and built-in training partners and motivation. So, regardless of your goals, find a few people you can clue in on them - and get those people involved in the process.  Doing so just might keep you from becoming another bride who tapped out on the fitness wedding. Lastly, while I'm speaking of deadlifts and the new product, I'd encourage you to enter your information below to subscribe to my FREE newsletter, and you'll be among the first to know when this new resource is released - and you'll (immediately) receive a detailed deadlift troubleshooting video.

In response to a recent blog, one reader posted a question about how I "structure" my approach to continuing education.  As I thought about it, it's actually a more organized "ritual" than I had previously thought.  Here are the key components:

1.  I always have two books going at a time. One involves training/nutrition/manual therapy/rehabilitation.  The other involves business/personal development.  Noticeably absent from this list is fiction; I really don't have any interest in it, and couldn't tell you the first thing about Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.  I'll usually have a book on CD in the car as well, but nowadays, my commute is non-existent (since we moved closer to the facility), so I have been doing more reading and less listening than previously.

2. Our staff in-service is every Wednesday at 10:30AM. This has turned into a great continuing education opportunity for all of us. While one person is "responsible" for presenting the topic each week, it always inevitably becomes a "think tank" among our staff and interns about how something applies to specific clients, unique issues, functional anatomy, or our programming or business model.

For instance, last week, I talked about how to assess shoulder external rotation and address any identified deficits on this front.  We got to talking about which clients were using the appropriate mobilizations, how to perform them, and what would happen if they are performed incorrectly.  Likewise, we talked about how certain people need to be careful about mobilizing their shoulders into external rotation because of extreme congenital laxity and/or extreme humeral retroversion. 

Beyond just the benefits of helping our staff grow as a whole, for me, it has several distinct benefits.  First, when I come back from a weekend seminar where I've learned something good, it's a great opportunity to "reteach" and apply it immediately.  I'm a firm believer that the best way to master something is to have to teach it to someone else.  Second, having pretty frequent "mini-presentations" keeps my presenting skills fresh for seminars when I may have 4-6 weeks between speaking engagements.

3. I get to at least 4-5 weekend seminars per year. I'm lucky in that two of these are generally Perform Better Three-Day Summits where I get to see a wide variety of presentations - with all my travel expenses paid because I present myself.

I think that every fitness professional needs to get to at least two such events per year.  The good news is that with webinars and DVD sets, you can save a ton on travel expenses and watch these on your own schedule.  A lot of people, for instance, have said that they learned more from our two-day Building the Efficient Athlete Seminar DVD Set than they did in years of college - with no tuition payment required, either!

That said, a ton of the education at such events comes from interacting with other fitness professionals, so you do miss out on the accidental "social" education.

4. I have one day a week where all I read are journal articles. Sometimes it is entertaining, and sometimes it's like reading stereo instructions.  It depends on journal - and regular ol' luck with respect to what's going on in the research world.  I'll keep it pretty random and just type in a search term like "sports medicine" or "strength training."  We also have The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies delivered to the office so that our staff can look that over.

5.  I read a few blogs/newsletters each day in both training/nutrition/manual therapy/rehabilitation and business/personal development. I've listed several on my recommended resources page.  There are loads more out there; these are just the tip of the iceberg and the ones that I tend to read more frequently.

6. I'll usually have a DVD set or webinar going as often as possible. We've got a great library in the office at Cressey Sports Performance, and I'm fortunate to have a lot of stuff sent to me for free to review here on the blog. I tend to prefer DVDs more than webinars, as I can watch them in fast-forward and make people talk faster to save time!

7. I talk to and email with a handful of other coaches about programming and business ideas and new things we're doing. I wouldn't call it a mastermind group, or anything even close to one in terms of organization, but it is good to know that whenever I want to bounce an idea off someone, I have several people I can contact.  On the training side of things, a few guys that come to mind are Mike Robertson, Neil Rampe, Mike Reinold, Bill Hartman, and Tony Gentilcore.  On the business side of things, I'm lucky to have Alwyn Cosgrove and Pat Rigsby as good dudes who are only an email or phone call away.  I think that the take-home message is that if you surround yourself with the right people, answers that would normally elude you are really right at hand.

This post wound up running a lot longer than I'd anticipated, but hopefully you all benefited from it nonetheless.  Have any continuing education strategies of your own that I have overlooked?  If so, please post them in the comments section below.

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It's an email I get at least twice a week from a random reader, and it goes something like this:

"My current job just isn't fulfilling, but I really love fitness and want to turn it into a career.  What certification do you recommend?"

I get these type of inquiries so often that I decided that this bit of writing would be my autoresponse which - as you'll see below - has a bit of tough love that I think these folks need to hear.

A few months ago, Rachel Cosgrove said that about 80% of those who enter the fitness industry leave it within a year.  I haven't seen the statistic myself, but Rachel knows her stuff and meticulously monitors the business side of the fitness industry and I defer to her completely.

Does it say something about the "status quo" that our industry probably has more turnover than a janitorial position at your local zoo?

Why the crazy turnover within the first year?  Well, for starters, I feel like entering the fitness business is an impulse decision for a lot of folks.  They hate their current jobs so much that they have to go to the opposite end of the spectrum to one of the only things in their lives that makes them happy: exercising.

Two months later, they realize that they're working 60-hour weeks on their feet because they have floor hours at their local commercial gym in the middle of the day on top of their only two personal training clients - who conveniently schedule at 5AM and 6PM.  They're rewarded with a whopping $600 check every two weeks, after taxes.  Starting with the 2011 tax plan, it'll probably be $200; take notes, kids.

But you've got passion, right?

Wrong.

Passion (and optimism) might get you out of bed for that 5AM client, but only determination, preparation, intrapersonal skills, organization, and a solid understanding of exercise physiology are going to make it possible for you to get through the rest of the day while being happy and making sure that you're just a little bit better the next day.

And, I will tell you flat-out that every single trainer I have ever met has had days when exercise was the last thing they wanted to do.  For me, it happened in the fall of 2006 every Tuesday and Thursday night - when my football guys came in to train with me at 7:30PM after I'd been training clients since 6:30AM.  Were it not for this kind of energy in my training partners, I probably would have gone home and just gone to bed.

Obviously, that's a worst-case scenario.  However, I'm never going to discourage someone from pursuing what they feel could be a livelihood where they'd be happy and helping people.  I would, though, encourage them to adhere to the following steps (in this order):

1. Go observe a few current fitness professionals who are successful in their crafts. Ask questions and get a feel for whether this is a good fit for you before you jump into the deep-end, quitting your job and investing all sorts of cash in a career change.

2. Wait a year to get a certification. What?  Huh?  This is supposed to come first, right?  Wrong.  Getting a certification without any background experience makes you a liability, not a professional.  Every penny you spend in that first year should be on books, DVDs, seminars, and travel to go observe other coaches/trainers in action.  And, you should be taking advantage of all the free resources there are for you to get educated online.  Don't ignore fitness industry business resources, either; they aren't taught with certifications or degrees, but are tremendously important.

3. Get an internship. This is an extension of #1 - and it still comes before getting a certification.  You need to log at least three months of 40-hour weeks somewhere learning your craft and paying your dues.  Get a feel for whether you could see yourself doing this long-term.

Obviously, this is a concern because it would require you to quit your job, so you'd need to save up for this period.  However, you would be amazed at how many interns are hired by facilities after their internship period is over (all our "hires" at Cressey Performance have been former interns).  And, most facilities will pay for your certification and CPR/AED training, and some will even give you a continuing education stipends on top of it.

4. Get a certification. Yes, it is step 4.  Frankly, I don't really care what certification you get because none of them really wow me, but then again, I have a hard time justifying an undergraduate exercise science degree for $100, let alone $200,000.  If I was 18 today, I'd save all that money, get an internship, and spend the cash on loads of books/DVDs - and taking selective courses (gross anatomy, kinesiology and biomechanics). A lot of folks, for instance, have told Mike Robertson and I that they learned more practical information in our Building the Efficient Athlete DVD set than they did in their entire college careers - for only 0.0015% the price.

And, I sure as heck wouldn't pay a university fo accept my internship credits; that's one of the biggest scams of all time!  However, before I digress too much on that front, get the certification.  Most jobs will require it even if it is just a small foot in the door.

5. Pay your dues. There is no way around it.  You aren't magically going to have a full client roster on your first day of a job; you have to start somewhere.  I can promise you that you will be better off with the background you've created with steps 1-4.

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the importance of accumulating 10,000 hours in order to become an expert in one's field.  There are only 8,760 hours in a year - and even if you assume 60-hour work-weeks, it's still going to take over three years to get to that 10,000-hour mark.

The 80% who don't make it past the first year simply didn't understand that you can't live the life of an established professional, industry expert, or even someone who has seniority if you don't put in the hours.

You've probably noticed that I geared a lot of this toward those in the private sector.  However, much of it will still apply to those looking to go into college strength and conditioning - but keep in mind that you will run into a lot of hurdles in college S&C if you don't have a college degree in a related field.  That's just the game as it's played, so keep it in mind.

A big part of longer-term success will be how you approach continuing education.  If you do it and take it seriously, you'll be ahead of 90% of the trainers and coaches out there.  A great resource in this regard is Elite Training Mentorship, our online education program that helps fitness professionals learn how to evaluate, program, and coach.  Check it out: Elite Training Mentorship.

Do any of you veterans have any tips for the aspiring up-and-comers in the business?  If so, post them as comments.

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